Adrian's Urgent Dental Care Fund: A Call for Help

Hello! My name is Adrian Black, I’m a 28-year-old man, born and raised in Hudson County, New Jersey, currently residing in Jersey City. For anyone reading this who may not know me, my life has never been easy. I was born into a broken marriage plagued by violence. As a young child, I watched my mother be abused physically and verbally, until they got divorced and she fell into a path of self destruction due to PTSD, and eventually took her own life when I was 8. I could truly write a book if I chose to detail every angle of the suffering that took place during the years of my childhood and adolescence: all of the horrible things I’d witnessed, that I, as a momma’s boy, watched the person who loved me more than anyone else ever could slowly destroy themselves before my eyes, that I was bullied at home and at school long before and after she passed, that my father got custody of us, started a new family, had a new child, acted like my mother had never existed, and expected my brother and I to follow suit, and that my brother and I were constantly made to feel like baggage of the past. To fully encapsulate the apathy my father had towards caring about his sons, I once, at around 17-18 years old, after much encouragement from a guidance counselor, came home from school, saw him on the couch, told him genuinely that I do not feel okay and that I feel like I’m a danger to myself and others, and his response was to simply “move on” and “forget about it”. Our step mom once, in her anger, told us that if she was our real mother, SHE would kill herself. Like I said, there’s a book inside my brain that has simply yet to be written! Regardless, to fast forward a bit, I got out of their house and cut all ties with them the moment that I could, and have been trying to survive ever since, with the help of people who’ve cared about me more than they ever did or could. I, of course, have suffered with CPTSD my entire life. This has effected me in innumerous ways, including but not limited to: an unfortunate history of self-harm, everlasting self confidence and body-image issues, being disqualified from live organ donorship when I tried to help my brother suffering from renal failure, dropping out of school and losing a full presidential scholarship that I got due to my grades in high school, and many missed opportunities, failed relationships, and ruined friendships. Anyways… now I’m here. And, even now, I feel like I’m being bombarded with setbacks. A few years ago, I found out I have a herniated disc in my lower lumbar spine. A few months ago, I was laid off from my job and lost the insurance I had finally gotten for myself. Then, after revising my resume and starting the process of applying for new jobs, I was sent to the hospital in the worst physical pain I had ever felt in my entire life. As it turns out, I have a SECOND herniated disc in my lower back right next to the other one, and that one, plus the OG one, slipped at the same time. After finally some healing and beginning to feel normal again, the new disc slipped AGAIN, and I had to heal, AGAIN, until I felt like I could walk and move normally. NOW… after FINALLY being able to fully heal and move around normally again… my gums started to get inflamed and gave me a horrible toothache. After going to the dentist yesterday (5/4), I was informed that my wisdom teeth are creating pockets in the back of my mouth where food is getting stuck and causing an infection, and if I don’t get them pulled, this will continue to happen and worsen over time. Ironically enough, a dentist told me I needed to have my wisdom teeth removed when I was a teenager, but I was never taken back to a dentist or orthodontist again after that. An important reason for including my background in this, is for anyone reading this to understand that I don’t have much of a support system in this world. My grandma and friends help me as much as they can, but they can only do so much. As of right now, the dentist estimated about $3,000 for the removals of my wisdom teeth, and about $600 for the deep cleaning of my gums. I am on unemployment which is helping me stay alive and housed, but it just isn’t enough to cover a bill like this. If anyone out there, regardless of whether you know me or not, can find some sympathy for my story and has the means to help, it would genuinely mean the world to me. Thank you to literally anyone who’s taken time out of their day to read this, whether you decide to help or not. My life has been one filled with isolation and dealing with problems on my own, so it’s hard to me to come to you like this. That being said, even in the darkest places you can be, the kindness of others can still shine through, if you keep your eyes open long enough to see it.